Mail-bag catching and delivering apparatus.



F. L. BARROIS.

MAIL BAG GATCHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS. APPLIOATION I'ILEI) 11113.3, 1914.

1,1 1 3,595. Patented 001:. 13, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

M70)- E'ank Z; Barred;

THE NORRIS PETERS C(L, PHOTOLITHO WASHINGTON. D. C,

I. L; BARROIS. MAIL BAG GATGHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 3, 1914.

THE NORRIS #ETERS CO. PHOTO LITHOQ WASHINGION. D. C.

UNITED sTArEs PATENT OFFICE.

O FRANK L. BARROIS, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

MAIL-BAG CATCHIN G AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Oct. 13, 1914.

Application filed March 3, 1914. Serial No. 822,231.

facility either on the mail-car or at the station, thereby obviating the necessity of parts of different construction, with a re-' sultant decrease in the cost of manufacture and installation. An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein I 1 Figure 1 is a perspective View, taken from the interior of the car and showing the two devices at the moment when the transfer of the bags is about to take place; and Figs. 2 and 3 are side and plan views, respectively, showing said devices just before such transfer. it.

The two devices"aforementioned.are indicated, generally in said drawing by the 1 reference letters Aland B, A being the device mounted in thej;door-opening 1 of the car-52, and. B=tliedcomplemental device mounted on the .postjB'located at the station at the requisite distance from the track. In eachinstance, the device consists of a smgle element which is employed both to support the lmail-ba'g to be removed therefrom, and andfito eflect the transfer of the other bag thereto. They are designed for interchangeable use, as previously stated, and they are also so constructed as to permit them to operate with the same degree of efficiency irrespective of the direction in which the car is moving, for which reasons the description of one device will apply, in the main, to both.

In the construction illustrated, which ma be considered as embodying the form at present preferred, each element, or device constituted thereby, comprises a pair of bars 4; and 5 that bisect each other at right angles and are integrally or otherwise rigidly connected together at the point of crossing. In the case of the car-carried device A, the bar 4, which acts as the support therefor, extends across the door opening and is rotatably mounted or journaled at its ends in socketed bearings 6 affixed to the sides of said opening. This bar occupies a horizontal positionat all times, as will be understood, and forms the aXis or fulcrum about which the other bar 5 rotates, the latter bar being likewise disposed horizontally when the transfer of the mail-bags is to be effected, in which position, it projects in opposite directions through the door openmg, its front arm extending toward the track and its rear arm into the interior of the car. Suitable means is provided for removably holding bar 5 in its working position,above specified, or in any other desired position, the means shown consisting of a ratchet 7 fixed to one end of arm 4 and engaged by a gravity-pawl 8 pivoted to the adjacent side wall of the door opening. v

The device B located at the station has a {different mounting, from the device A, onwthe car, in that its support is constitutedby therear arm of the bar 5, which arm is rigidly fastened by staples 9, orthe like, to a cap plate 10 affixed to the top of post 3, so that the said device is incapable of rotation or other movement. To reach this device, an elevated platform 11, having afiight of steps 12 leading thereto, is provided.

The actual supporting and removal of the mail-bags are effected by means of a crossbar 13 that is rigidly secured to the outer or front end of the bar 5 of each device, and, like theibar 1, which it parallels, is bisected at right angles by bar 5. Thesebars 13 are but very little shorter than the bars 1 and are formed at their ends with rearwardlyfacing seats 14 for engagement ,withtthe bag-holding rings 15. The rings, ,as shown, ;are approximately rectangular, and fatheir lower members are formed at their ends with depending seats 16 from which the mail-bags are suspended, while their rear. members are centrally oifset to form lateral shoulders 17, best seen in Fig. 2, as

a result of which construction-the upper portion of each offset member'is disposed 1n a plane in advance of the lower portion thereof. The latter portions of said members are designed for insertion in the seats 14, with the shoulders 17 extendin across the upper faces of the bar ends, so t at said shoulders may thus be regarded as centering means for the rings. The portions just indicated are held in *place by pairs of retainingsprings 18 that eXtend in opposite directions along the rear faces of the bars 13, are fastened thereto at their inner ends,l

L-shaped, and the bent terminals of their rear arms are fastened to the bars 4, while their front armsconverge inwardly toward the bars 5' andbear attheir terminals against the inner portionsofthe springs 18.

The operation is substantially as. follows: Assuming that the ear: is moving, inthe direction indicateduby the arrow in Fig. 1, the'bag'to be transferred from the car to thexde'vic'e at th'e' station is suspended from nor, the arm the. rear arm-of bar 13, the shouldered rear member of its ring 15 being engaged in theIseatYxlA- 'inwthatarm, while the other bag is similarlysuspended from the proper arm of the bar13 of:,thestation-located device. As the car approaches the station-device, thew.frontx arm"iof the car-device bar 13 will passthrough the ring carried by,- the "station-device, and in like man of the station-device-bar 13iwhich. projects toward the approaching car will pass through the ring of the cardevice. As the car approaches closer to the station-"device,- the tw'orings will strike against the adjacent springs 20, which will .fieX:inwardlyftoward'the bars 5 and thus not only absorb the greater part of the impact shock, as will be understood, but also permit thefring's to pass by their free ends and slide along the arms of the bars 13 until striking against the bars 5, the spring endsthen returning to normal position and locking'the rings against accidental removal. Atthe moment when the car-device actually passes the station device, the rings are forcibly withdrawn from their seats 14:, thus completing the transfer. The pawl 8 is then released from engagement with ratchet Copies of this patent may be obtained for 7, thereby unlocking the car-device and permitting its loaded bar 13 to swing downwardly and inwardly through the door opening 1 into the car. Thebag caught by the station device may be readily removed therefrom by simply flexing the proper spring 20 inwardly, no rotation or other movement of the device itself as a whole being necessary.

It is to be observed that the main working parts of each of the two devices present a somewhat T-shaped appearance, the bar 18 constituting the head of the T, and the bar 5the stem thereof. The central bar 1 acts in both devices as the support for the buffer springs 20, and, in. the case of the car-device, acts also as the support for the device itself or the means whereby it may be mounted. Owing to this formation, it will be apparent that the same device may be used interchangeable either in the car or at the station, (with the exception that the car-device requires the addition of the pawl-and-ratchet lock), and will operate with equal facility irrespective of the direction from which the car approaches the station.

' I claim 1. The combination of a mail-bag catch- .ing and delivering member having a lateral arm which is provided with a terminal seat and with a retaining sprmg extending thereacross; and a bag-supporting ring having a portion thereof adapted for reception in said seat, and an oii set centering and retaining shoulder adapted for engagement with the upper edge of the seat.

2. The combination of a mail-bag catch ing and delivering member having a lateral arm which is provided with a terminal seat and with a retaining spring extending thereacross; and a substantially-rectangular bagsupporting ring having its rear member formed intermediate its ends with a centerin and retaining shoulder adapted for engagement with the upper edge of the seat, the portion of said rear member directly beneath said shoulder being adapted for insertio n in said seat.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing wit- V. H. Coon.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

